LAKE URUMIYAH IS DRYING
140 km-long Lake Urumiyah, which is an
attraction center for swimming, water sports and boat
activities, is at a great stake. Lake Urumiyah attracts a
lot of people in summer with its beautiful beaches and salty
water. Depending on its water containing many minerals, Lake
Urumiyah has made its region one of the most beautiful and
unique places of the world for the water therapy systems.
This lake is unfortunately under the danger of extinction.
Within the borders of the West
Azerbaijan, in the Lake Urumiyah National Park, which is
under a “so-called” protection and which contains islands,
coasts, various kinds of plants and animals, and the area of
4810 hectares some kind of ecologic problems, depending on
the increase in the saltiness level due to the decrease of
the water level, are experienced. A meeting was hold in
Tabriz in November 16 – 17, 2007 on this issue.
In the above-mentioned meeting, to which
relevant individuals and experts were attended from the
cities of Tabriz and Urumiyah, it was declared that “the
negativities seen in Lake Urumiyah were mentioned to the
relevant authorities in the year 2005, however no
appropriate researches and studies were conducted on this
issue.” In addition to this, it is reported that in the
meeting, some points as “as of November 300 milligram salt
in one liter lake water was measured, and the reason for
this is the decrease in the waters of the rivers flowing to
the Lake Urumiyah, the future of the lake would be in danger
if any measures do not taken, and the people living around
would be affected negatively because of this reason” are
discussed.
According to the experts, although the
individuals attending to the meeting could not express the
following facts openly, “they point out that the central
government is indifferent to the Azerbaijani States and
insensitive to the problems of the region”. In addition to
this, the experts underline that the area’s biological
variety draws attention internationally and because of that
reason the area was declared as a national park and taken
under protection as “a biosphere region” by UNESCO. It is
suggested that the Government of Iran’s unconcerned attitude
towards Lake Urumiyah would also set environmental
organizations in motion.
